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EA under fire from Conservative groups for gay Star Wars storyline

One of the biggest games-makers in the world, EA, has come under fire from conservative American groups upset that there is a playable gay romance in Star Wars: The Old Republic, the multiplayer online role-playing game the company released in December.

Star Wars: The Old Republic allows players to create characters that can experience a gay storyline.

One of the biggest games-makers in the world, EA, has come under fire from conservative American groups upset that there is a playable gay romance in Star Wars: The Old Republic, the multiplayer online role-playing game the company released in December.

Created by Edmonton-based BioWare, the game allows players to create characters, including light or dark Jedi, to have adventures set in the Star Wars universe. Published by EA, the company has become a target of groups, including the Family Research Council and the Florida Family Association, for approving the ability to potentially experience a gay romance storyline in the game.

“In a new Star Wars game, the biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists!” Tony Perkins, the head of the Family Research Council said in a radio address in January.

The company has received thousands of letters threatening boycotts for the inclusion of the homosexual storyline. The letters also imply that EA is caving to pressure from LGBT groups to include the content. The company has also been aggressive about deleting questionable content on the game’s forums about this issue.

Jeff Brown, a spokesman for the EA, refuted the claims.

“Every one of EA’s games includes ESRB (Entertainment Software Ratings Board) content descriptors so it’s hard to believe anyone is surprised by the content. This isn’t about protecting children, it’s about political harassment,” he told Games Industry International last week.

“EA has not been pressured by any groups to include LGBT characters in our games … However, we have met with LBGT groups and sponsored industry forums to discuss content and harassment of players in online forums. In short, we do put options for same-sex relationships in our games; we don’t tolerate hate speech on our forums.”

In response to the campaign, another group, Allout.org, has started a petition supporting EA’s position that already has more than 60,000 signatures. It has also received support on Twitter from celebrities such as Neil Gaiman and Stephen Fry.

Similar to the fight for gay rights in the real world, this controversy is getting repetitive as it’s an area that BioWare has played in before. The company is known for creating elaborate role-playing-games that are built on choice, and as such have allowed gamers to engage in similar romantic storylines in the blockbuster space epic Mass Effect series, as well as Dragon Age, a swords and sorcery role playing game. In all of its games, there are paths that players can take, so it is completely up to a player if he or she wants to experience that aspect of the game.

Jaime Woo is a Toronto-based writer, curator and co-founder of Gamercamp, a local event for the gaming community. He has done a lot of work on gender and queer representation in games and says he sees some small bright spots in this controversy.

“I’m glad to see that there was a strong response against these groups. I think this is really showing a growing maturity in our industry. I think that it also just says the whole argument that they’re trying to protect the kids by not allowing more diversity in games is absurd,” Woo says.

“What we really need (is something) similar to how there is that new campaign in sports, You Can Play, with athletes coming out in support of queer players. I think we’re already seeing non-queer players saying they not only don’t mind, but think that it’s right for visibility in games for queer players.”

Woo also points out that these groups also boycotted All-American Muslim, in part because they felt that the show’s portrayal of Muslims was “too favourable.” Woo says he thinks we’ll see more of these types of protests against video games as they continue to grow in prominence.

“In a way it’s kind of nice to see games are continuing to grow in their presence. I think this is a huge mode of artistic expression for our generation,” Woo says.

“So we’re likely going to see more boycotts of this kind of protest as games continue to grow in stature. Certainly I don’t think these groups are going to change the direction of how games are going to be more progressive and more open minded, but we are going to hear it as they become more prominent.”

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